21 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN the performances atOe O.K. With ElIzabeth Hartman and Mae Mercer. Directed by Don Siegel. (R K O. 23rd St. Cinema; through May 25.) BIG JAKE-With John Wayne and Richard Boone, directed by George Sherman. (Or- pheum and Rivoli; starting May 26.) BLUE WATER. WHITE DEATH-Chatty documentary about sharks. It was made by fish maniacs and has that charm (Festival) BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (1969 )-l\ very com- mercial but also very funny American come- dy on modern sexual mores. Dyan Cannon and Elliott Gould give a classic portrait of a dreadful modern marriage; Robert Culp and Natalie Wood are the other couple. VV ritten by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker Ma- zursky directed. (Embass) 72nd St.; through May 25. . . 0 f]f Charles; through May 25, ten- tative.) BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967 )-Faye Duna\;vay and Warren Beatty as the Depression outlaws who show off their big guns and their defiance of the law. The Arthur Penn movie plays upon our attitudes toward the American past by making the holdups look as dated as two- reel comedy Violent, funny, and one of the best American movies of the sixties. (Re- gency; through May 25.) SULLITT (1968)-There is a good chase over the hilly streets of San Francisco in thi routine and pointless police melodrama, which is, however, gIven some tension by the compe- tent director Peter Yates and some interest by Steve McQueen, with his low-key charis- ma. (Regency; through May 25.) CACTUS FLOWER (1969 )-Broadway quips de- livered by Ingrid Bergman, who looks ma- jestic; Walter Matthau, who looks a little weary (he has every right to); and Goldie Hawn, whom God must have sent to us. But why didn't He provide her with better materi- al? Directed by Gene Saks (Embassy 72nd St.; through May 25. .. f]f Charle , through Ma) 25, tentative.) CHIKAMATZU MONOGATARI (I 954)-A sensitive psychological study of a woman's passions and adultery in seventeenth-century Japan, directed b) Kenj i Mizoguchi, a master of the nuances of women's emotions. In Japanese (Bijou Cinema; May 19.) CHILDREN OF PARADISE (1945)-A one-of-a-kind film: a sumptuous, romantic epic about the relations between theatre and life, written with wit by Jacques Prevert, and beautifully directed by Marcel Carne. Made during the Occupation but set in the Paris of Balzac, ,vith Jean-Louis Barrault, the incomparable Arletty, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir, and Maria Casarès. In French. (Bijou Cinema; May 21.) CLAIRE'S KNEE-The air is thick wIth summer and leisure in Eric Rohmer's serene story of a vacationing diplomat (Jean-Claude Brialy) who says he is interested only in women's minds and then has an "undefined desire" to stroke a young girl's knee There's a rather enigmatic woman-novelist who stands in for the director and makes ponderous remarks, but Rohmer'<=; quiet, complacent movie-novel game is pleasing and an exquisitely gawky teen-age actress, Beatrice Romand who plays a subsidiary role, looks like a Pisanello prin- cess. In French. (Waverly and Lincoln Art; starting May 26.) LA COLlECTIONNEuse-Eric Rohmer directs the third of his "Six Moral Tales," readying for "My Night at Maud's" and "Claire's Knee.' This one, too, is full of summer-delzed with sun, bored, a study in the heresy of not en- joying a good time. Never were so many brown limbs unengaged with each other. The film is about a drolly seen prig, but Rohmer's sense of the ridiculous isn't that sure In French, with voice-over in English frOln the hero when he's thinking aloud, which ha an oddly ventriloquial effect and makes you jump (72nd St. Playhouse.) THE CONFESSION-Costa-Gavras's beautifully de- tailed demonstration of how the Communists at the Stalinist show trials were made to con- fess to imaginary crimes. A great, neglected mOVIe subj ect, intelligently presented Yves Montand gives a fine non-egotistic perform- ance. (In English at the Trans-Lux 85th St ; starting May 21, tentative. . . . f]f In French at the Greenwich and Midtown; starting May 26.) THE CONFORMIST-Bernardo Bertolucci's extraor- dinarily rich adaptation of the Moravia novel. with Jean-Louis Trintignant as the aristo- cratic Fascist, Stefania Sandrelli as his deli- ciously corrupt, empty-headed wife, and -'" , -- -;' "' ' 'i,", . . I) ..I \ \ . ' " ' .,.. \, ' t.Þ I.Ã'I. S-M-r-W-TeF-S 2J '241201 : : 1 21 I 22 Dominique Sanda as the tiger-woman he would like to run away with Bertolucci has a poet's gift for using objects, landscapes, and people expressively; his evocation of the thirties is one of the rare sensual experiences in modern movies In Italian. (Little Car- negie. ) THE Cop-With Michel Bouquet, directed by Yves Boisset In French. (Cinema 5ï Ren- dezvous; starting May 26 ) DEAD OF NIGHT (1946)-l\ series of eerie epi- sodes that includes everything from Death disguised as a bus driver to a ventriloquist'<=; dummy that succeeds in dominating its mas- ter. (5th Ave. Cinema; through May 26.) DERBy-Slow-pulsed documentary about a young Midwesterner who dreams of making the Roller Derby a way of life. O.K., but prett) sentimental about a puny form of athleti- cism. (Cinema 57 Rendezvous; through May 25.) DIRTYMOUTH-Bernie Travis as Lenny Bruce, di- rected by Herbert Altman. (R.K.O. 59th St. East T\"in Cinelnas.) DREAMS THAT MONEY CAN Buy (1948 )-l\ Hans Richter Surrealist film (Bijou Cinema; May 22.) FELLINI SATYRICON (1970)-Fellini, baskIng in sin, in the De Mille godlessness-is-Iawless- ness tradition. The fresco effect of the film becomes monotonous, as if his phantasmago- ria of the pagan world were a theatrically staged panorama, set on a treadmill. In Ital- ian. (Gramercy: through May 25.) UNE FEMME DOUCE-With DOlninique Sandel and Guy Frangin, directed by Robert Bresson. In French. (5th Ave. Cinema; starting May 27.) W. C. FIELDS SHORTs-The great man in "Pool Sharks," "The Golf Specialist," "The Den- tist" "The Pharmacist" "The Fatal Glass of Beer," and "The Barbershop." (Elgin; May 20-24.) FIVE EASY PI ECES- Jack Nicholson plays the throw-out of a gifted, sedate family of mu- sicians. He has the same musical gift, but prefers to squander it as he squanders his life. He has a delicate ear for auspicious be- ginnings, and when time gives out on hÍ1n he knows how to run. Bob Rafebon directed. (Embassy 72nd St.; starting May 26.... f]f Charles; starting May 26, tentative.) FRIENDs-Daft idyll of a youth-worshipping time. It's about a middle-teen-age couple on the loose in France who have a baby without el doctor or midwife Directed by Lewis Gil- bert. (Paris.) THE GENERAL (1926)-Buster Keaton at his very greatest, except perhaps for "The N aviga- tor" He did it all himseH: stunt jobs, props, script, the lot. The filnl has aU the sweet ear- nestness in the world. It is about trains, fron- tier America, flower-faced girls. To be seel' at all costs. (New Yorker, May 21-22.) GIMME SHELTER-The Rolling Stones in their American tour, and especially in the disaster at Altamont (Cinema II.) Go INTO YOUR DANCE (1935)-AI ]olson and Ruby Keeler have a number together ("About a Quarter to Nine"), and \i\Tini Shav. sings "She's a Latin from Manhattan." The cast isn't topnotch, but it does include Helen Morgan and Glenda Farrell and Patsy Kelly; the songwriters Al Dubin and Harry Warren, also appear. Miss Keeler had been in many musicals before thi ç; one, but she re- tains her pecuharly appealing amateurish- ness. Archie Mayo directed. (New Yorker, May 22-23.) GUESS WHAT WE LEARNED IN SCHOOL TODAY?- About sex education in school Directed bv John Avildsen, who directed "Joe." (Loew"s Cine.) THE GyPSY MOTHS (1969)-Burt Lancaster, Gene Hackman, and Scott Wilson as three exhibi- tion parachutists risking their live to earn a poorish living out of small-town audiences hungry for the spectacle of risk-taking Very well directed by John Frankenheimer, the act- ing as finely as the action ç;equence<:; (Cine- ma Studio; through May 25.) THE HORSE'S MOUTH (1958)-Alec Guinness a Joyce Cary's fabulous painter-hera-the lewd, scrounging Gulley Jimson (whose antic self-destructiveness is based on Dylan Thom- as). With Kay Walsh as Coker, the barmaid; Renee Houston as Sarah; and Erneç;t Thesi- ger as Hickson. Ronald N eame is a literal- minded director, and so this comedy isn't a free as it should be-it turns out to be a conformist movie about non-conformity- but the characters manage to bust through and it is highly entertaining (Thalia; through May 20.) THE IMMORTAL STORY (I 968)-OrC)on vVelles' film. taken frOln [sak Diné en' tory about an al- legorical millionaire in Macao. \i\Tith Jeanne Moreau. (Elgin; starting May 25.) NEVER SANG FOR My FATHER-Bargain-basement dramaturgy is used to surprisingly powerful effect in this account of a n1iddle-aged man's unresolved relationship with his father. Gene Hackman and Melvyn Douglas perform un- sentimentally and intelligently. Gil Cates di- rected, from Robert \nderson's script. (Embassy 72nd St.; starting May 26.... f]f Charles; starting 1tlay 26, tentative.) INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION-A political parable. directed by Elio Petri, about a mad big -shot police official (Gian Maria V olonte) who believes he has a license to kill but the rnovie is too nasty and kinky for the political point to be effective. Petri doesn't use suspense pleasurably; he makes one ap- prehensive and doesn't resolve the tensions so the film leaves one in a foul mood. (Guild, through Ma) 25 ) THE hALIAN JOB (1969)-Michae1 Caine is a handsome ex-con with all the ideas and none of the loot. He breaks into prison to meet Noel Covvard to get financial backing N oël Coward wears hi" usual smoking-jacket- what else, even if we are in prison? The cli- max literally hangs on a cliff. Enjoyable. (Bleecker St. Cinema; May 19.) JIMMY THE GENT (1934)-We are v\-atching a Michael Curtiz film of 1934, and Jimmy is James Cagney, so the gentlemanizing of Jim- my is fairlv wry. It is done for the sake of Bette Davis, the eternal sadist; Cagney as hel matching masochist is c:l funny idea. (N e\'\ Yorker; May 24-25.) KURONEKO (1968 )-Directed by Kaneto Shindo In Japanese (Bijon Cinema; starting May 27.) THE LADY VANISHES (I 938)-Alfred Hitchcock's murder mystery about a charming old lad) who boards a train and disappears on it h2s some of the best examples of his comedy and his pleasurable perversity. In movie history it is a quintessential suspense thriller. The hero is Michael Redgrave (making his film début); the heroine is Margaret Lockwood the lady is the memorable Dame May Whitty \i\Tith Paul Lukas and Cecil Parker (Kips Bay and Carnegie Hall Cinema; through May 25.) THE LANDLORD-There are some engaging nlO- ment<:; in Hal Ashby's film, which shows a rich white New Yorker (Beau Bridges) in combat with a boozing mother (Lee Grant) To rile her, because he hates Jews and blacks, he buys a New York tenement. With Pearl Bailey. (Juliet 2.) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)-Though it falls to give an acceptable interpretation of La\;v- rence, or to keep its action intelligible, it is perhaps the most literate elnd telsteful and ex- citing of the modern expensive spectacles With Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, and Anthony Quinn. David Lean directed. Written by Robert Bolt. (Rivoli; through May 25.) LITTLE BIG MAN-The exhilarating Thomas Ber- ger novel, brought to the creen by Arthur Penn A hip epic, with an amiable first hour Then the massacres and messages take over With Dustin Hoffman as the only white sur- vivor of Custer's Last Stand. (Sutton.) LITTLE CAESAR (1930)-Edv.Tard G. Robinson'<:; Rico is the prototype of the movie gangstel, but Mervyn LeRoy' direction is sluggish, and the actors seem to be transfixed by the microphone. With Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Glenda Farrell (New Yorker; May 20.) LITTLE MURDERs-Jules Feiffer's wisp of a satiri- cal comedy about living between assassin a- tion hd become fairly gross in this movie